Category: Star Wars

A few months back I decided to model Darth Vader’s lightsaber and make some quality renderings. I had modeled a version of the prop several years ago for an entry in the SketchUp 3D Challenge but due to the time constraints it was less than accurate. I even used that model in the header of my blog before I started using my Obi Wan Kenobi lightsaber model. This time around I could take my time to really get the details right. I also tried to model something that would look realistic when 3D rendered.

As with most props in Star Wars, this lightsaber had multiple versions. There were close-up versions and stunt versions for all three Original Trilogy movies. I decided that I would do two versions, one from A New Hope and the other from The Empire Strikes Back because they are very similar. The one from Return of the Jedi was completely different and only loosely based on the previous ones. I will save that for another time.

The main part of the lightsaber hilt is a flashgun from 1950’s British press camera from Micro Precision Products with the reflector removed. The MPP Microflash is extremely hard to find since fans started making prop replicas of this lightsaber. I am sure this is a painful reality for vintage camera collectors although if they do have one, it’s boost in value is due to its connection with The Force!

The A New Hope version is actually very simple. It’s just the flashgun with 7 plastic T-track strips glued to the tube for a grip, the display lens from a vintage TI Exactra calculator slid into the opening of the clamp in the middle of the tube and a D-ring for attachment to a belt.

Sometime during production of the movie, someone broke the lever off the clamp and fixed it with a nail like object pushed through the clamp’s holes and bent close to 90 degree to hold the clamp on the flash tube and the lever push on to it. My model reflects the prop prior to the damage.

There are a few differences between the A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back version: The prop maker added short pieces of wire inserted into the connectors on the sides of the flash tubes for detail. There are just 6 plastic T-track strips (slightly longer and blunt cut instead of rounded or beveled on the ends). And finally, the clamp is flipped the opposite direction and its lever removed or missing.

After satisfied with creating the models, I moved on to creating renderings of both versions of the lightsaber. For my Landspeeder model, I rendered the final images with Kerkythea. I had started preparing the lightsaber for rendering in Kerkythea and after setting up a few materials I figured out a good way to make a glowing lightsaber blade.

Previously, I had created the glow for lightsaber blades in Photoshop because I could figure out how to do it with Kerkythea. Anyway, after experimenting I figured out that I could create the effect by applying a transparent emitter material to a shell of mesh surrounding the regular blade mesh that was twice the diameter of the blade.

After I got the blade materials the way I wanted them, I saw on a SketchUp Facebook group or page that Twilight Render had created a free version of their software for hobbyists to use (Twilight Render V2 Hobby). I thought I would check it out and in doing so I discovered it uses the Kerkythea rendering engine but was a lot easy to configure and use. It works directly in SketchUp so there is no exporting to worry about and it can import materials from Kerkythea which would allow me to create more complex materials than Twilight Render’s hobbyist version can do.

I decided to render this project entirely with Twilight Render and just imported the lightsaber blade materials from Kerkythea. It took a while to find settings that would create high quality renderings in the least amount of time. Initially the renderings were taking up to 4 hours but I realized that the software included the presets from Kerkythea listed under “Tech” and they are much faster than their “Express” presets. I take it the Express presets are higher quality but I don’t have the patience to wait that long and listen to my computer fan blowing so loudly for hours.

I ended up creating the same scenes for both versions to simplify things although in hindsight the it is hard to tell them apart if you are just glancing at them.

I am sharing both models on the Trimble 3D Warehouse for anyone to look at.

What’s next? I haven’t decided but I may start on a small ship, and I really mean small this time as in smaller than the Millennium Falcon but bigger than Lambda-class shuttle.

This is a project I had been wanting to do for a long time and I finally decided to get around to doing after modeling Rey’s blaster from The Force Awakens. I started collecting reference images for the speeder a few years ago, but felt there wasn’t enough to go on for the level of detail I tend model.

This speeder is the same model landspeeder that Luke Skywalker uses in the original Star Wars on Tatooine. When I started working on this, my intention was to try to replicate how it appears in the film but later settled on making a version of how it may have looked when new. Had I decided to make it look like it does on screen, it would have taken much more time due to my limited experience in creating textures. I decided on red because the worn dull pink and taupe color scheme of the actual prop would seem to indicate the color had long faded out from red. It’s possible it could have been orange but I didn’t like the look. Continue reading

I just finished a project that has been keeping me busy for a while (which I will write about soon) so I thought I would come back to my DL-44 blaster and make the hero version used on Hoth. Not much has changed from the Bespin version; the only real differences in the two versions are in the mount for the scope and the details on the flash hider.

For the scope mount, the bracket dimensions are just a little different and the knurled knob is replaced with a metal disc of some sort with three machine screws attaching it to the gun body. The flash hider goes from the three knurled stripes on the base to just one narrow stripe and one wide stripe, and the transition to the flared part is a bevel instead of a bullnose radius.

More versions of Han Solo’s DL-44 to come.

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After all the classic Star Wars Blasters I have modeled, I decided to model one of the newest props to grace the silver screen. This time it is the blaster given to Rey by Han Solo in The Force Awakens. She puts it to good use outside Maz Kanata’s castle right before Kylo Ren captures her.

This prop. unlike the ones in the Original Star Wars Trilogy, was not based on an actual gun from earth. With exception to the design of the grips (which appear to be Mouser C96 grips put on backwards with the mounting holes relocated), everything about this prop was designed machined from scratch. The main screws used on the prop are Security Torx machine screws and the others are hex socket cap screws and socket button head screws. Continue reading

Having just completed my revamped Return of the Jedi version, I decided to model the version of Boba Fett’s EE-3 Carbine rifle from The Empire Strikes Back.

It was a little bit more difficult to model this version of the prop because many of the parts added to it by the prop builders are unidentified.

Starting with the Webley & Scott No. 1 MKI flare pistol from the ROTJ model, I began by working on the barrel rings to which the scope rings and scope are mounted. What these parts are, isn’t exactly known on the prop were but the best guess are pool pump tubing clips combined with metal pipe clamps. The rear one has a metal clamp with a tightening screw at the bottom and the front one is more or less a curved strip of metal that fits inside the tubing clamp. The front ring is attached to the MPP Microflash flashgun body (that the prop maker slipped inside the barrel of the flare pistol) by two short bolts that poke through the inside of it through the holes of the rings. Nothing secured the bolts other than what appears to be some wire wrapped around the two bolts. I realized I forgot to add the wire detail to the model but I will fix that soon. The modeling was the simple part, finding good reference photos was the challenge.

After recently reviewing my old 3D model of Boba Fett’s blaster, I discovered quite a few discrepancies in details and dimensions from the actual prop. I was initially concerned with bracket for the stock because, remembering from when I first modeled it, it was not quite right. In fact, the bracket was way off in its appearance. Then as I started working on the bracket and I discovered even more incorrectly dimensioned parts. Therefore, the best course of action was to start over from scratch. I could go over all the problems with the first model but there would be too many to list.

The Blastech EE-3 Carbine rifle prop used by Boba Fett in Return of the Jedi, like the one in The Empire Strikes Back, started with a WWI Era Webley & Scott No. 1 MKI flare pistol. Various found parts were added onto it including a 4×20 riflescope. The ROTJ version of the prop is significantly different from the one in The Empire Strikes Back and most notably in the design of the gun barrel. The prop was much more refined as it was in several close-ups shots.

I had a lot of fun creating the DL-44 blaster model so I thought I would do another. This time it was the Blastech T-21 Light Repeating Blaster from Star Wars: A New Hope. The Sandtrooper squad leader used it tracking the droids they were “looking for”. They used it in a only few scenes and not much is known about it except for that it was a WWI Era Lewis Machine Gun with some parts added to it.

Most of the work was modeling the Lewis Gun and that is 95% of what comprises the blaster. If you simply take away the wires and connectors that I modeled and add the field mount, you have a fairly accurate model of a Lewis Gun. I use the word “fairly” because my modeling is based what I could measure from the few good photos and some old schematics I found on the web.

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After my last starship project was finished, I thought I would do some small and I decided on modeling a version of Han Solo’s DL-44 blaster. There were quite a few versions of the prop used in the original Star Wars Trilogy but all were German Mauser C96 “Broomhandle” semi-automatic pistol based.

I decided that I would model the version used by Han in the Bespin scenes of The Empire Strikes Back. While not as iconic as the “Greedo killer” version Han Solo uses in the Cantina scene in A New Hope; rather it is the one that he fired at Darth Vader before being disarmed. I plan to model the other versions in the future and thankfully the tough part (the Mauser) only needs modeling once because it will not change.

The parts that turn the Mauser C96 pistol into The Empire Strikes Back Bespin version are a WWII era US Army M19 Tank/Artillery gun sight, a machined bracket for the sight, a knurled nut, a custom milled flash hider and various parts from the Revell 1:4 Visual V-8 engine model kit in addition to various screws.

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The ship is now complete (yay!) and I am now working on a map of the interior. I have been working on this project on and off for over 4 years and I finally have a complete ship. The ship still needs a name so hopefully I come up with one. This update outlines the final work done on the model.

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About JediCharles.com

I'm a Star Wars and SketchUp enthusiast living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). This blog serves as my personal posting ground for all things I create through my 3D modeling hobby combined with my love of Star Wars. Occasionally, topics will also include things relating to DMD and physical disability.